Overall, this is a decent sounding recording. Somehow you can just tell its in a huge concrete stadium.It's a little bright and sibilant on the highs. Phil is present even on a bluetooth speaker, and Brent's keys get a little lost in the mix at times, so I'll give it just a B for sound quality. Hell in a Bucket starts out rocking and with high energy. West LA has a great solo in it. Jerry's playing is really on here. Also, the bell sound that is on the studio recording is present here. Kinda fun, sounds good. Jerry really belts it out during Loser. Mickey gets a little worked up near the end of the solo and it has that popcorn machine effect on the beat but it holds together and doesn't ruin the song. Tons of Steel? Why are they playing this? No one wants to hear it. Nevertheless, as B material goes it's tight, well played. Everyone's trying. First solo is tight and crisp. Second solo is a little wobbly then song just disintegrates. Problems with recording plague Masterpiece. Brent uses the fiddle/violin effect I love so well. Push has a great, extremely lyrical solo. The band is really tight. This should have been on In The Dark instead of Tons. Promised Land slams into an uptempo, peppy Bertha. Dew is confident, well played and totally solid, but not a barn burner. Jerry's voice while a little gruff is still capable of portraying emotion and reaching for little vocal nuances. The first solo Jerry lays down is blistering. Short but full of emotion. Then he pulls it back for another verse, it mellows down into that pensive, circumspect part right before the rave up. The second solo is okay but not a barnburner. Cool! Playin' is upbeat and focused, maybe even a little fast. Sounds good. There's a little of that awful drum trigger nonsense, but overall, pretty good. Then the jam. Oh, there's Brent peeking through the clouds of Bob and Jerry's miasmic spray of notes. Jerry sounds engaged, trying different things on each of his runs. Little bits of chromaticism here and there a la something from the '70s. The drummers are loose yet in control, pushing the song with a driving tempo. Brent limns the outer edge of the jam with weird chord shapes and tones. Bob follows suit with weird noodle-y squiggles and the whole thing devolves into a furious drums. I know, let's put delay on everything! Space! It's short, they're not even halfway through their night yet, so ...The Other One: typical spacey runs while waiting for Phil and the drummers to come back. Slowly everyone ambles back in. Phil picks up the signature riff around the 1:50 mark and after a big woof of distortion Bob sings. Oh, hello Healy nonsense on Bob's vocals. Ugh! Then everyone goes to work chasing Alice ( and the leit motif) down the rabbit hole at a brisk pace, Brent throwing icy chords over his shoulder along the way. More silliness on Bob's vocals then Healy backs off and the song disintegrates into Stella. Jerry's voice sounds perfect for singing the road weary protagonists plaint. Lots of nice crescendos and decrescendos. Drums are a little wobbly as they build into the first solo, and it's a beauty. Majestic and forlorn. A few guitar arabesques and it flows back into the next verse. Brent following along, supporting, serving the moment. And then the outro just kinda floats along blissfully but not necessarily going anywhere and then it stalls into Throwin'. Cool. The band snaps back into the tighter band form they exhibited on the other In the Dark tunes earlier. Must have been the rehearsal. The crowd is into it. No missteps. They are building towards something. Bob yells out we are on our own and Jer beins to rip off a nice solo, Phil gets lost for a second and steps on Jers' line but they all recover and build the eager crowd into a frenzy. Rave up time. Let's dance! The kids they dance and shake there bones indeed! This is rocking! Slight vocal flub as Bob turns the song towards it's conclusion and into its natural Bo Diddley-beat partner NFA. There's the B-3. And the fan! Oh, yeah! Now we're having fun! Nice interplay between Phil, Brent and, well, everyone. This is familiar territory and they exploit it, working the groove. And then they stumble into another verse, building it into the stomp yer feet beat and the call and response shouts of thousands of besotted fans in the throes of a passionate display of devotion. Oh, man I love this band. God bless the Good ole Grateful Dead!

joey was beautifully done, it was long and so moving

My 2nd show and the one that truly set the hook! So much music, sensory overload. My next near Dead experience was Jerry on Broadway 10/31/1987 matinee and evening shows....which at that point Jerry had me flopping around on the deck of his boat for the next 8 years.

This whole show exists on video over on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dSYlW8Ly3Y&feature=related

Spent the first set scrunched up against the wall in front of the stage on Jerry's side of the stage.... A little too much material from In The Dark, but otherwise great stuff.... Sweet Loser and a Smoking Bertha!!

Moved to the area by the sound board for second set..... All great!!! Dew>Playing to open 2nd set made my summer... Yeah, I please easily!!!

Dylan set was good but would rather have gotten of 3rd set of the boys all alone!!!

Grew up in NJ and saw all but 2 of the Giants Stadium shows.... Not sure if this is my favorite, but it certainly was a good day in the swamps of Jersey!!!

i would of killed to see dylan playing with the best backup band in the world. Dylan is fantastic song writer. Jerry loved getting down on some dead. i mean he'd been playing them forever. Yeah Dylans voice is weird, thats Dylan. I saw him couple of months ago and you cant even understand him. So this is great. And even though you can hear the crowd i think it just adds to how good a show this is. The first set is so tight sounding. and im sick of everyone knocking shows and judging them. im never ever gonna get to see THE grateful dead. so im happy with anyshow no matter if it sounds good or not. got any food?

This is one of the most valuable shows on the Archive, in my opinion. All the Dylan and the Dead shows should just be cleaned up audio-wise and be made available for download or purchase w/in the public domain. It is just too unique and valuable of a union to not be able to digest somewhere else than sitting in front of a computer screen (even w/ great speakers/audio). I am perplexed @ the always harsh and scathing reviews of the Dylan and the Dead album release. I have never, ever knocked even the Dylan and the Dead album/cd based just on the fact this was the only live cuts you could find since the albums release for a lot of us listeners out there. All the songs on that album are pretty smokin' in all honesty. I mean really, what is there to complain about!?? Sterling versions of Dylan tunes backed by the Dead??!! God forbid!! I never ran into a copy of these shows in my years of travelling, trading, and collecting. I sincerely appreciate the uploads of this run of shows. Thank you for enriching my existence just that much more--and thank you Bob Dylan if you are ever out there. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!The set before w/ just the Dead is great, too. What a beautiful experience it must have been... You lucky ducks!!!!!

I really am stoked to finally hear this show!!I was at this show and think it was SMOKING-anybody thinks this was a lackluter or dull show was not there!Jerry on the pedal steel-doesn't get any better!!!!I remember being hosed down by stage crew with firehouses because the sun was soo hot--The NJ crowd is a litle rowdy yeah but the band was definitely Hotter than the temperature!!!!!

Let's remember Garcia is still finding his groove again after the diabetic coma post RFK & 86 summer tour, this whole Dylan/Dead thing is pretty out on a limb.
Garcia sums Dylan up pretty well when Jerry said, "The guy has no fingerprints". I think this whole mini tour did little to endure Dylan to those with only a superficial knowledge of his music. Truthfully, much of the time he looked like he was lost in space and seemed very lazy with his vocals, but he was also capable of absolutely blowing everyone away at any moment.
The best example I can offer from this tour is the version of 'Joey'that appears on the single disc Dylan/Dead recording. About half way through the song Dylan starts to really sing the lyrics and it is intense.
I once saw Dylan in New Jersey probably after these shows and he broke out a slam dance version of 'Shelter from the Storm' It was completely different from the ballad version and it was hot.
I am sure there a whole bunch of Heads who after this mini Dylan/Dead tour viewed Dylan as overrated, that is a shame because Dylan is easily in a league with Robert Hunter for songwriting and
probably one of the most influential people of the 20th century.
I am not sure how many other bands could step up to the challenge of being Bob Dylan's road band, especially during this period of time when Dylan is somewhere between nails on a blackboard and the Anti-christ with his song delivery.
The big picture is this was good for the Dead, it stretched them, it was not always in my comfort zone but i am glad they gave it a whirl, was also glad when the Dead got back to being the Dead after the summer tour.


Note> The weather on the East coast that summer was super hot and humid and did little to help.

... listening back to this I think it is even better than I remember! The crowd was amped up. No doubt it was a lot of the newbie Touch of Grey fanbase there but it was an event and the energy fo the event was was palpable (heh, running in from the gate, I tripped and fell and for a moment I looked up at the stampeding herd coming toward me and envisioned another Cleveland (The Who) happening (with me as the victim!)so I got up SO quick and hobbled toward the stage with my twisted ankle still smarting and laces still untied... but ultimately getting a fairly good spot not too far from the stage.

But LISTEN to this show... the band is pretty well on and the drums are particularly quite tight, something that I found annoying in many of the mid 80s shows (the loose drumming thing the guys seemed into most of the time). Jerry is singing pretty well and quite passionately, even getting some good crowd response (check out the Dew!). Jerry's playing is really sweet. And: Pedal Steel! Need I say more? As to them playing rushed as some have said, I think it is more that they are playing tight... they aren't as wasted... maybe they had to keep their heads together given the size of the crowd but I didn't get the sense the show was rushed... it was a fun day.

And for the record, i have to say that I disagree with most people about not liking the whole Dylan and the Dead combo. I thought it was a great concept. Sure, it was a little thrown together due to their schedules and various habits said powers-that-be may have been battling at the time... But -- hey that was part of what they were doing then and ultimately it was all about a sense of spontanaity and lighthearted fun and just putting it out there.

How fortunate we are that they even got together at all! Wouldn't it be nice if more bands today were doing that sort of collaboration? We have a little bit of it from some superstars of sorts (Elton John/Billy Joel) and many indie underdogs (The Minus 5, The Thorns, Big Star/Posies, etc.) But we're not seeing much of this sort of superstar collaboration anymore (there aren't many "superstars" anymore, I know...). Well, I'm looking forward to seeeing Elvis Costello with Alan Toussaint at least.....

I relished this opportunity to witness two of the legends of our time coming together for better or for worse. mostly it was for the better.

:-)

Jboy - were you at half the shows you're pontificating about? You're a clueless moron.

post this show back up afterall it's a aud you should be able to download it

I have a bootleg of Dead playing Dylan songs (the title of the bootleg actually, I think) and it has Wicked Messenger and Times They Are A Changing from soundboard. There must be one out there somewhere. (I'm adding 3 stars so as not whack the ratings down too much)

This was my second show. I don't remember how I got up there from Philly. I think I went with my friend Ralf. The JFK show from the 10th wasn't intimidating for a first show because it was my hometown, but Giants Stadium was totally intimidating. If Philly is rowdy, NYC/NJ is even rowdier. I didn't trip or anything but the whole show was disorienting. The venue is like a giant concrete mausoleum or something. Not a good vibe for a Dead concert. The best part was watching this guy with crutches and long pants and a jacket sit down in front of me with his two "aides." He walsk to his seat and immediately started peeling off clothes. Well, well, out comes a mic stand, there goes a mic, ahh, some cables. In his "aides" bag was four track. Brilliant. Apparently Dylan was anti-taping so there was no tapers section on that tour. I remember some asshole doing whippets and turning around to yellinto the mic, " I want to get so fucked up that I fall down on my face." Cool dude. Real cool. Oh yeah, it was hot as Hades. I don'thave too much to say about the music because I was still earning there were vast differences between tye recorded stuff I knew inside and out and a live show.

1st Set: Cognizant of the 'rough' Jersey/NY crowd, the "Hell" opener is quite appropriate. Odd, but capable segue notes by Jerry at 1:28 into the chorus. A solid, fast-paced version. There's nary a pause as we drift into an involvingly peppy "Fadeaway." "Greatest" isn't that, but it's good enough for a third tune. "Loser" is good, the crowd surprisingly hot for it. "Got any food, let's see it." "Tons" is kept brisk. Geeting Funk-y with the "Step Back" game. That was fun. As is this "Ramble." Alright, though... "Push" was played last night. totally, Not needed this evening. "Promised" is another rapidly, tho professionally performed tune. The vocalists are committed to properly singing the lyrics, but "Bertha" like most, is impatient, and made Not to last. (sounds a little coked up)

2nd Set: Hey, everybody...'Walk like a "Egyptian,' backwards...it's the new dance, right? Take my word, you're gonna love it" Unfortunately, Jerry cannot provide us with Hottie Hoffs' riff? Well, apparently the crowd needs a cool-down...why not start with a "Dew?" Like most tunes tonight, the music feels rushed, impatient, without a proper amount of tender care to expertly concoct the dish from the extremely varied ingredients. "Playin" is easily handled, and the dive into unchartered waters is appealing. "Drums/Space," shockingly, quickly come and go and we're thrown head-first into a delirious 6 minute "OO" romp. Stella is superficially triumphant, (although I think it's success leaves an introspective aftertaste, how Jerry might be feeling alone admist all of these crazed NYC fans.) Bobby's giving "Throwing" the whole college-try, and it turns quite grooverific...Is that Mickey adding some devil to the rhythm? "NFA" is quite smokin' with steam flowing from the tailpipe.

As noone should overwhelmingly care about Dylan's lackadaisical performances... let's rate this 3 1/4.

There was a pretty rowdy vibe in the show that night. A long, hot day in the lot and a lot of people jumping onto the floor, and the floor got more and more packed. I think they played 2 sets(unlike JFK) and opened with a Dew to try to cool things down a bit. Dew-Playin', that was nice.

this Dead/Dylan part was better than Foxboro but not as good as JFK. Only 3 set show I ever saw besides New Years. Giants stadium too friggin big for this, were so far back it was like watching TV with a bunch of rude foul smelling New Yorkers in my livingroom.

Yep, folks, my one and only Dead show! I was born in Ohio, grew up in NYC but then moved to Mallow, Co.Cork in Ireland...so I never got the chance to follow 'em around. But that summer I was back in NYC. In a way, I got the whole trip -I travelled out to Jersey to line up for tickets about a month or so before, which was great fun and, as I understand it, a major part of the Dead experience. What I remember about this show was that the sound was phenomenal compared to other rock concerts I'd been to up to that point. Listening to it now, here on the archive, I'm knocked out by the performance of "Ramble On Rose". Jerry used a very cool sound for the solo and is really going for it vocally. It's really amazing to hear the crowd singing at the end, too. I went with a buncha Irish folks that I was living with at the time and we had a really great time.
(It's great pity that the Dead never performed in Ireland - Jerry had a vacation there in 1994, I know, but if The Dead had arrived here and gigged - well, who knows? The Irish like a jammin' rockin party that goes on for hours, y'know?) Got lots of photos of The Dead and Dylan that day, too. Some folks didn't care for Dylan perfoming with The Dead and, of course, the subsequent live album didn't do anything for either The Dead or Dylan. But THIS show was great..I had seen Dylan 3 years previously at Slane Castle in Ireland with Mick Taylor and Carlos Santana... that rocked for sure...but to hear Dylan perform songs like "Wicked Messanger", "Joey" and 'Tommorrow is a Long Time" just blew me away. Well, that's my lot folks...if your ever in Cork City and wanna see a band perform some Dead - gimme a shout, be glad to oblige...5 stars - 'cos they didn't let me down and inspired me to keep on playing music and living my life that way...

I am not sure, but set with Dylan is probably from SBD. It's a bad luck, this audience recording is great and better than soundboard. Please, has somebody original third set?

This was a great show. Another hot New Jersey summer with the boys. Quality of recording is pretty good, and the band jammed. Dylan was also pretty good, although Ive heard better.

great show with alot of highlights excellent other one - had a girl from cornell on my shoulders the whole second set I never saw again maybe thats why.....